How I Went to Prison

My first classroom—before I went to prison—was in an old convent. I couldn’t figure out which  room it had been. It was non-descript with windows on one side that faced the parking lot. During breaks from teaching English, I often sat on the porch with Andi, the art teacher. I was immensely happy to visit with her randomly to gossip about surviving the teaching life at St. Malachy’s Catholic School. Sometimes I felt we were holding on to the same life line while we drowned in the rules and rituals: wearing pantyhose (no open-toes), even when it was 95; monitoring the jigglers at morning mass; decorating the classroom for parent-teacher

~Skirt!Magazine, September 2015

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